Cyber Monday Opportunities and Risks

Monday December 3rd 2012 was the best sales day ever for retailers in the UK. Facts released by Experian say they took 32% more orders than on ‘Cyber Monday’ in 2011.

Cyber Monday always follows Thanksgiving Day in the US, which falls on the last Thursday in November. On that day this year, online shopping figures shot up, with 112 million visits to online retailers by British shoppers, who spent an average 15 hours on retail websites.

Similar stories have come out of the US. Everywhere, as well as on the high street, people shopped at home and at work, on PCs, smartphones and tablet devices, pretty much satisfied that it was job done: gifts ordered and on their way.

Delivering the Goods

The question is, will all the goods ordered be accurately packed and delivered to the right location at the right time, especially if they are wanted for Christmas?

When entering data online, customers sometimes make mistakes because they are not used to double checking, and they are often in a hurry. It’s especially easy too to make data input errors when using mobile devices. And when buying products to be despatched directly to gift recipients’ addresses, it becomes harder to get it right. Sometimes rather than take time to double check, guesses are made as to postcodes or other parts of an address.

Verifying Data Saves Money

It’s important for retailers to verify the information that has been entered before orders are despatched. It can be exceptionally time consuming for staff to have to do this by telephone or email, and can result in delays. But with data cleansing software, issues will be highlighted in advance – automatically – so that inaccuracies such as invalid postcodes or incomplete addresses can be detected and corrected before goods are despatched, so avoiding costly errors and, inevitably, damaged customer relationships.

If the customer is already on the database and information has been incorrectly input,data cleansing software will correct records that partially match existing records courtesy of fuzzy matching.

Making Sure Online Shoppers are Happy Shoppers

Investing in address correction software will give you the confidence you need as a retailer that your orders will be delivered to the right address – first time – so reinforcing your good reputation and fostering lasting customer relationships. Delivering on time without issue, minus the need for time consuming manual intervention, will enhance the chances of repeat business, so an investment in data cleansing software is an investment in business growth and good customer relations.

Armed with qualifications in mechanical engineering, business and finance, and experience of running engineering and CRM businesses, Martin founded a successful CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software house in 1992, supplying systems to large, medium and small sized companies.
Developing a deep understanding of the value of data, he became concerned that many organisations were making decisions based on poor quality data. To fill this gap in the market, he sold the CRM company and started DQ Global in 2002 to provide data quality solutions, with a mission to detect, correct and prevent data defects which undermine business decisions.
Since then, DQ Global has become a global market leader, delivering enterprise-wide data solutions utilising leading edge technology. Martin has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience and has established himself as a Data Quality Improvement Evangelist and an industry expert.